Some vulnerable children have gone missing more than 50 times in a year

EXCLUSIVE by political editor Paul Francis

Social workers are failing to establish why children at risk have gone missing from care, according to Kent Police.

An alarming report presented to Kent Police Authority says children who go missing and are then found are not being asked why they have run away.

In some cases, vulnerable children in residential homes or with foster families have been reported missing "in excess of 50 times in the last year alone".

The report says social workers from councils outside Kent are often failing to meet a statutory requirement to conduct interviews with at-risk children when they are found or returned.

Such interviews are considered critical in establishing why youngsters already considered vulnerable have left.

Kent Police say the failure of councils to follow up with interviews means the "root causes of the disappearance often go unaddressed" and steps are needed to remedy the situation.

Kent County Council said it had referred the issue to the independent Kent Safeguarding Children Board and wanted to assess the scale of the problem.

The disclosure will worry those who believe Kent is already struggling to cope with a disproportionate number of looked-after children, especially in Thanet.

According to the report, members of the Kent Police Authority "have expressed particular concerns about the toxic mix of looked-after children and relocated offenders being placed in the Thanet area."

It adds: "The police are often dealing with the symptoms of deeply entrenched problems."

Cllr Jenny Whittle (Con), pictured left, Kent County Council's cabinet member for specialist children's services, said: "I have been assured that whenever it is a Kent child who goes missing, we do carry out a return interview.

"The problem we have is that there is no legal requirement on other councils to notify us when a child in their care goes missing and we are arguing that there should be some national notification procedure.

"It is the responsibility of the authority that places the child when they go missing and there should be some risk assessment carried out."

Kent Police said while there were 9,000 reports of missing people, the actual number in 2011-12 was 5,091 of which 1,957 were children.

Figures from earlier this year showed Kent was looking after 1,267 vulnerable youngsters from other authorities - including some from Scotland, Wales and the north of England.

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